Supporting means for material plates, especially glass panes, are known in the prior art as roller tables, drum tables, or air cushion walls, especially as part of insulating glass production plants. As long as especially high forces are not applied to the material plate (glass pane) during working, the supporting action of these supporting means is rather high. But it is a problem when high forces are applied normally to the plane of the plate during working or the material plates are caused to vibrate during working, since in these cases it is necessary to hold or clamp the material plate securely. This however entails the danger on the one hand that the material plates, such as glass panes, when held or clamped securely, will be scratched, and on the other they cannot be moved or can only be moved with relatively high effort relative to the supporting means.